


Back to Work

by AnnaTheHank



Series: A/C/G ot3 [16]
Category: Good Omens (TV)
Genre: Crowley and Aziraphale get basically married in 2 seconds, Gabriel has a big secret, M/M, Multi, lil hurt/comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-09-23 21:33:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20347057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaTheHank/pseuds/AnnaTheHank
Summary: Gabriel returns to heaven only to find Michael clearing out the archives. He rushes to protect an ancient artifact and the secret it carries.





	Back to Work

**Author's Note:**

> y'all!!!! I LOVE YOU GUSY  
Seriously, like, everyone's comments and overwhelming love for this series is keeping me going! I Mean, like!!! I did not anticipate such a warm and big welcome for these bois and I just!!! ALL MY LOVE> YOU HAVE ALL MY LOVE  
ALso< I wonder  
IF I start tagging Phanuel in all of these do you think I can trick AO3 into thinking they're a real character?

Gabriel sat on the edge of the bed, pulling his shoes on. The early morning sunlight streamed a soft blue through the curtains of the window. He could hear Aziraphale below him, clanging something about in the kitchen.

“You’re not allowed to go,” Crowley said, his voice strange.

“Why’s that?” Gabriel asked, lacing up his shoe and not turning to face him.

“I’m sick,” Crowley announced. He fell on the bed next to Gabriel, his head next to Gabriel’s leg. “You have to stay and take care of me.”

Gabriel put his foot down, looking over at Crowley with furrowed eyebrows. “Can you get sick?”

Crowley coughed and crawled forward, twisting so he could rest his head on Gabriel’s lap. “Yes. So you have to stay.”

Gabriel placed a hand on Crowley’s head. “I’m pretty sure that’s not true.”

Crowley groaned and shuffled closer. He coughed again. 

“I really do have to go back,” Gabriel said, running his fingers through Crowley’s hair. 

Crowley made a noise and shook his head. Gabriel sighed. He did want to stay. Once he had started to feel better he had really enjoyed his time here. He always enjoyed his time here. But he had no idea what was going on in heaven. And he had to go back. 

“I’ve made coffee,” Aziraphale said, whispering a bit as he entered the room. 

“Apparently I’m not allowed to leave,” Gabriel said, gesturing down to Crowley. 

“Oh dear,” Aziraphale said. “What happened here?”

“‘M sick,” Crowley mumbled, coughing again. “He has to stay to take care of me.”

“Well, darling,” Aziraphale said, sitting down on the other side of him. “I’m sure I’m perfectly capable of taking care of you.”

Crowley was quiet for a moment, his muscles tensing a bit. “You both have to take care of me,” he said. “I’m really, really sick.”

“Come here, my dear,” Aziraphale said. He gently grabbed Crowley’s arms pulling him back so he could lie on his lap instead. He mouthed ‘run now’ to Gabriel, who promptly scurried off the bed.

Crowley huffed and frowned, curling his body tighter together. 

“I’ll be back soon,” Gabriel said, fixing his tie.

“Sure,” Crowley grumbled. 

Gabriel hesitated, eyes wavering as he looked at Aziraphale. Aziraphale gave him a small smile, nodding a bit. Gabriel nodded back and vanished.

Crowley sighed and rolled onto his back, looking up at Aziraphale with a frown. “Let’s go somewhere,” Crowley said. “I’ll take you out to breakfast or something.”

Aziraphale smiled at him, fingers brushing against his scalp. “That sounds wonderful, darling. And perhaps after you can take me to one of those movie places?”

Crowley sat up. “You willingly want to go to a movie?” he asked. “Like, a new one not an old one being replayed?”

Aziraphale nodded, leaning in to kiss Crowley’s forehead. “Of course, darling. As long as you’re feeling up to it that is. Seeing as how you are quite sick.”

Crowley blushed a little. “I’m feeling a bit better,” he said. 

“Oh, good.” Aziraphale kissed his cheek. “A date it is then.”

-

Heaven was crowded. Angels were running about, pushing carts full of objects and files around. Gabriel popped into the main room and had to jump out of the way of a particularly tall cart that the angel pushing it couldn’t see around. 

“Gabriel!”

Gabriel spun around again. Phanuel was rushing up to him. 

“Welcome back! How are you?”

“I’m fine,” Gabriel said, looking around the room. “What...is going on?”

“Oh. Oh it’s Michael’s new thing,” they said. “After the whole Aziraphale-hiding-a-holy-bomb-up-here issue they decided that we should clean house as it were. Make sure there weren’t anything else hiding about.”

Gabriel watched the carts wheel around. “They’re looking through everything?” Gabriel asked.

Phanuel nodded. “Yep. Uh, files, objects, everything. Sort of like a bit...what’s it they call it? Spring cleaning?” Gabriel nodded absentmindedly. “Uhm, anyway. I should get back to it. I’m glad you’re better.”

Phanuel scurried off and Gabriel sighed. He spied Michael in the corner, holding a clipboard and nodding as they watched things get carted about. 

“Welcome back,” Michael said, not looking at him as he approached. 

“Hello, Michael,” Gabriel said. He stood next to them, hands behind his back as he watched the chaos. “Find anything interesting?”

“Is there anything interesting I should find?”

Gabriel shook his head slowly. “I would assume everyone is very on top of everything.”

“Yes. You’d think.” Michael made a note on their checklist. They cleared their throat. “Thank you.”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow and looked over at them. “For?”

Michael sighed, eyes flutter closed. “For...saving me,” they said, voice forced. 

Gabriel quirked a smile. They reminded him a bit of Crowley. “No thanks necessary,” he said.

Michael sighed, teeth grinding together a bit. “Don’t think this changes anything. There’s still going to be a war.”

“Of course.”

Michael lowered their clipboard. “And it certainly doesn’t mean I owe you anything.” They stomped away, shoes clicking hard against the floor. 

Gabriel paid closer attention to the objects being shuffled about. They all looked awfully old. He figured they were going through everything in time order. Hopefully Aziraphale didn’t have anything stashed away from all the way back then. 

-

Crowley put on his coat and turned around to the door. He smacked into the figure of Gabriel that had not been there a few moments ago. 

“Wow,” he said as Gabriel grabbed him and steadied him. “When you said soon you really meant soon.”

“Is everything alright?” Aziraphale asked, rushing up to him. He was looking him up and down. “Nothing’s happened has it?”

“Everything is fine,” Gabriel said. “Can I speak with you for a moment?”

“Of course.”

The left Crowley by the door and walked to the backroom. Aziraphale was fidgeting with the sleeves on his shirt. “What’s wrong?”

“That holy bomb you had,” Gabriel said. “You don’t happen to have...anything else like that in heaven do you? Any other artifacts or weapons that you shouldn’t?”

Aziraphale looked to the side, face scrunching up a bit. “I suppose there are a few things that might have been left behind. Why?”

“Michael’s going through the archives,” Gabriel explained. “I need a list of what you have so I can get it out.”

“Oh.” Aziraphale stared at him for a moment, then startled and shuffled over to his desk, pulling out a pen and a piece of paper.

“You two better not be making out in here without me,” Crowley said, stepping into the room. 

“Just taking care of some business,” Gabriel said. 

He looked over at Crowley and awkwardly reached out for his hand. Crowley looked at the hands with a raised eyebrow and Gabriel started to pull away, but Crowley just snorted a bit and grabbed it back.

“Everything’s okay though, right?” Crowley asked.

“It will be,” Gabriel said. “Just a few things to take care of.”

Aziraphale finished scribbling and walked back over, holding the paper out to him. Gabriel reached for it, only to find it pulled back out of his reach before his fingers could curl around it. 

“Actually,” Aziraphale said, folding the paper up. “Perhaps it’s best if I went up there and got them.”

“Aziraphale, there are angels everywhere. You’ll never go unnoticed.”

“Yes but...I can’t help but think what they’ll do to you if they find you with any of this.”

“Nothing as bad as if they find you with it.”

Aziraphale frowned and looked away. He had a point. “I just don’t want to put you in any more danger.”

Gabriel released Crowley’s hand, stepping up to Aziraphale. He reached out, his fingers brushing against Aziraphale’s as he slowly grabbed for the paper. Aziraphale’s frown increased but he let Gabriel take the paper.

Gabriel unfolded the paper and looked at it, his eyebrows rising.

“I know,” Aziraphale said, blushing a bit. “Some of them are a bit…”

“A bit?”

Crowley peered over Gabriel’s shoulder. “Wow.” He smirked up at Aziraphale. “I’ve never been more proud.”

Aziraphale rolled his eyes. “Just be careful. Please.”

“Don’t worry,” Gabriel said, stuffing the paper in his pocket. “I know what I’m doing.”

Gabriel disappeared and Crowley and Aziraphale looked at each other. 

“I really don’t think he knows what he’s doing,” Crowley said, shaking his head a little. 

“No,” Aziraphale said, with a small sigh. “But luckily, neither do the others.”

Crowley laughed and hooked his arm with Aziraphale’s, leading him back to their scheduled date.

-

“I quite say,” Aziraphale said, taking his coat off. “I did enjoy those.”

Crowley smirked, grabbing Aziraphale’s coat from him. “I knew you’d like ‘em.” He hung their coats up and brushed the light layer of snow off his hair. He had taken Aziraphale to see the new James Bond movie. Afterwards, Aziraphale wouldn’t stop talking about it so Crowley had ‘persuaded’ the theater to put on a marathon of the others. They made it through three more before calling it a day.

“You have such wonderful taste, dear,” Aziraphale said, pressing a kiss to Crowley’s cheek. 

Crowley blushed. He grabbed Aziraphale’s waist pulling him in for a proper kiss. “How about I cook you something for dinner? Hm?” He put their foreheads together. “And for desert…”

Aziraphale’s face brightened. “Crepes?”

Crowley chuckled, kissing the corner of his lips. “Yeah. Crepes.”

They stood there a moment longer, holding each other close. Then there was a crash from upstairs and they both rushed towards it.

“Sorry,” Gabriel said, balancing a box in one arm and holding a lamp in the other. “Just stumbled a bit.”

Aziraphale closed his eyes, taking a deep, controlled sigh. Crowley walked over and took the lamp from Gabriel, placing it back on the bumped table. 

“Is this all, then?” Crowley asked, taking the box from him.

“Yes, and be careful,” Gabriel said. “There’s some dangerous stuff in there.”

“I sure hope,” Crowley said, smiling like a kid in a candy shop as he set the box down on the table and started rummaging through it.

Aziraphale placed a hand on Gabriel’s arm. “Are you okay? Not feeling tired? Wounds hurting?”

Gabriel gave him a soft smile. “I’m fine.”

Aziraphale pouted and nodded, joining Crowley by the box. 

“You still have one of these?” Crowley asked, holding up a small, silver ring.

Aziraphale sighed, pulling the box over to him. “Yes,” he said. 

“Weren’t they all supposed to be destroyed?” Crowley asked, slipping the ring on one of his fingers. “Mine was.”

“They were,” Aziraphale said, not looking at him. 

“How’s it look?” Crowley asked, holding his hand out. 

Aziraphale spared him a glance, about to tell him to take it off. Then he saw exactly which finger he had placed it on and he couldn't help but grin a bit. “It suits you,” he said.

Aziraphale took out a few more items from the box, trying to decide if he should hide them away somewhere or if it would be better to hide them in plain sight as it were. Not like heaven was going to come looking for them down here. 

“Gabriel,” Aziraphale said, pulling out a golden horn. “This isn’t mine.”

“Ah, yes,” Gabriel said, swallowing hard. “I was wondering...if you could hold that for me.”

Crowley gasped. “Do you have a forbidden heaven artifact?” He grabbed the horn from Aziraphale looking over it with wide eyes.

“Yes and be careful with that!”

“Careful? So I shouldn't just blow it?” Crowley smirked and held the horn up to his face.

Gabriel was across the room in three quick strides, jerking the horn away, his eyes dark. “Absolutely not!”

Crowley shrank back a bit. Aziraphale cleared his throat and gingerly took the horn from Gabriel’s tight hold. “We’ll be happy to keep it safe,” Aziraphale said. He gave Crowley a look.

“It’s very important that you don’t use that horn,” Gabriel said.

“Why?” Crowley asked. “What is it.”

“A long story,” Gabriel said.

Crowley sat down on the couch, legs crossed under him. “We’ve got a long time,” he said, arms resting on the back of the couch.

Gabriel looked away. “I have to get back.”

“So soon?” Aziraphale asked. He had a hopeful little expression on his face and Gabriel really didn’t want to let him down. He understood now why Crowley was always bending to the angel’s every whim. 

“I think it’s story time,” Crowley said, leaning forward, elbows on his knees, chin resting in his hands. 

Gabriel sighed but nodded. He let Aziraphale walk him over to the couch, sitting him down between them.

Crowley shifted so he was sitting facing Gabriel. “So what is it?”

“It’s a horn,” Gabriel said.

“No shit.”

Aziraphale placed a hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. “What does it do?”

Gabriel took a deep breath and stared at the ground, unable to meet their combined gazes. 

“It’s okay,” Aziraphale said, rubbing his back a bit. “We won’t tell anyone. You don’t have to worry about that.”

“It’ll kill them,” Gabriel said. He closed his eyes. It was part of God’s plan, he told himself. His refusal to use it was part of Her plan.

“Kill who?” Crowley asked.

Gabriel’s voice was a barely concealed whisper. “You. And the others.”

Aziraphale and Crowley exchanged a glance.

“You mean...if you or, theoretically, anyone blows that horn, all the demons will die?” Crowley asked.

Gabriel nodded slowly. Aziraphale blinked, huffing a bit as he fell back against the couch. “How long have you had this?”

“Since the war,” Gabriel said. He opened his eyes again. It had felt good to say it, to finally get it off his chest. But every word he said brought back the fear of his mistake. “Or right after, rather. The Almighty entrusted it to me.”

Crowley sat up. “God gave it to you?”

Another nod. “She wanted to stop it. Before...well before what happened happened.” He bit his lip, trying to stop a tear from escaping. “It...it was part of her plan, right? Th-that I didn’t use it?”

Aziraphale shot forward, grabbing Gabriel’s head in his hand and forcing him to look at him. “Of course,” he said. Crowley scoffed lightly. “Gabriel you absolutely did the right thing! If you had used that why...why they’d all be dead. Crowley would be dead!”

Gabriel looked away, unable to pull his head from Aziraphale’s grasp. He could feel more tears building up in his eyes, and they stung. 

“Can we destroy it?” Crowley asked.

“I tried,” Gabriel said. “Nothing works.”

Crowley gulped. Once, a very long time ago, his life had been in Gabriel’s hands. And instead of killing all the demons, eradicating sin and evil from the world, Gabriel had held on to the hope that demons could be forgiven and returned to heaven. That Crowley could be forgiven. 

He felt that strange bubble of love rising to the top of his chest, the kind of feeling he got whenever Aziraphale thanked him or complimented him on a job well done. He sank down in the couch, feeling the need to crawl inside the earth and disappear. 

“If anyone ever knew-” Gabriel said.

Aziraphale hushed him, pulling him into a hug. “No one will ever know,” he whispered. “She gave it to you for a reason.” He smoothed down Gabriel’s hair. “You did everything you were supposed to.”

Gabriel screwed his eyes shut, one tear managing to escape before he forced his eyes dry. He didn’t fully believe Aziraphale, he still felt like he should have blown that horn, should have stopped Eden from falling. But it was nice to hear. It was comforting, at least, that Aziraphale believed himself, whether or not it was true. 

“I should get back,” Gabriel said, trying and failing to get away from Aziraphale’s hug. 

“Of course,” Aziraphale said, not moving. 

Gabriel felt Crowley’s head against his back, arms wrapping around his waist. “No,” he said.

“Crowley-”

“It’s late,” Crowley said. “You might as well just stay and spend the night.”

Gabriel sighed. “Really. I’ve been back one day and I didn’t even do anything. I have to go.”

“You’re still healing,” Aziraphale said. “You really shouldn’t rush into things. It’s important to take breaks.”

Gabriel frowned. He really wasn’t going to get out of here without a fight. And he really didn’t feel up to a battle. “Fine. I’ll stay. But you won’t keep getting away with this.”

“Course not,” Crowley mumbled. 

“Not at all,” Aziraphale agreed.

Gabriel deflated into the hug. He really didn’t like how sure of themselves they sounded.

**Author's Note:**

> Three things:  
1) POLL TIME: what should I do next? Zoo? Gabriel having an existential crisis? some one on one fun times? or something more to do with that ring?  
2) If you haven't already, you should totally join my GO fic writers discord. https://discord.gg/ApAEX9Q  
I rant about these bois a lot in there lol  
3) I made an ask blog for Gabriel from this series!! (Cause I have NO chill) Send him asks and also read his weird commentary on coffee posts  
https://ideallycasicielo.tumblr.com/  
<3


End file.
